This weekend we are asked to contribute to
the Catholic Home Missions Appeal.
the Catholic Home Missions Appeal.
What Are the Home Missions?
"Home Missions” is the name for dioceses and parishes in America, in its territories and former territories, which cannot provide basic pastoral services to Catholics without outside help. By “basic pastoral services” we mean Mass and sacraments; religious education; ministry training for priests, deacons, religious sisters and lay people; and subsidizing poor parishes.
For many decades, the Church in the United States has sent missionaries overseas to serve the people of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. The Home Missions are dioceses and parishes here in America that need the same kind of support.
Where Are the Home Missions?
Surprisingly, the Catholic Church is poorly established in many parts of our country, especially Appalachia, the South, the Southwest along the Mexican border, the Rocky Mountain States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and remote island chains like the Marshalls and the Carolines in the Pacific. Generally speaking, the home missions are everywhere Catholics are few and the Church is fragile.
Click HERE for an interactive map of home missions in the U.S.
This LINK describes the home mission needs right here in the Diocese of Tucson -- and includes a photo gallery.
Find out more about the USCCB's Catholic Home Missions effort at:
Find out more about the USCCB's Catholic Home Missions effort at:
http://www.usccb.org/hm/
Included on the website are links to maps, videos, a scrapbook, newsletters, and the program's annual report.
Included on the website are links to maps, videos, a scrapbook, newsletters, and the program's annual report.
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